Legacy of Uzushiogakure
by breakthrough
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto is the last son of Uzushiogakure. Groomed from birth to be Hokage, Naruto will embrace his destiny and defend Konoha from the enemies that lie in wait. War is on the horizon... Naruto/Harem
1. Chapter 1 - Beginnings

CHAPTER 1 – Beginnings

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><p>When the dust finally settled on the night of October 10th, Sarutobi Hiruzen's world was thrown into chaos.<p>

In the span of that one night, he lost his wife, his village lay in ruins, and his successor and the jinchūriki of Konohagakure lay dead, having given their lives to re-seal the Kyūbi no Yōko into their newborn son.

There was no time for the Sandaime Hokage to mourn his losses or lose himself in the sorrow that threatened to overwhelm him. Though the village had suffered catastrophic damage, life had to go on. If not for the civilians and remaining shinobi, but to maintain the illusion of power. If Konoha were to give even the slightest hint of weakness to the enemies lurking outside her great walls and borders, the delicate balance of power forged in the fires of the Third Shinobi War would come crashing down. And with it, Konoha itself.

No, there was no time to waste on mourning. When Sarutobi walked into the Hokage's office and sat behind the very desk he had hoped never to have to sit behind when he first retired, he laid a hand on the ceremonial hat and robes of office that laid neatly folded in front of him. As there had been no immediate successor named by the Yondaime before his and his wife's untimely death, it fell upon the old man's shoulders to retake the position and begin rebuilding anew. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he once more took up the mantle of Hokage.

The first weeks back in power were a blur of paperwork and accounting. Nearly half of his beloved village was destroyed and temporary housing for the displaced citizens was overwhelmed by the strain. A full third of the shinobi forces had laid down their lives to defend the village and desperately stall for the time the Yondaime Hokage needed to deal with the beast, while almost 25% of the civilian populace suffered casualties in the panic and destruction that ensued.

It was thus of the utmost importance to recall all non-vital shinobi from abroad in order to shore up the village's defense and aid in reconstruction. While Konoha's forces had been dealt a massive blow to its manpower, its policy of quality over quantity and emphasis on teamwork would have to be more important than ever. Mission output had to increase by at least 33% as the village worked to prove it had not been affected by the Kyūbi attack as foreign espionage had expected, as well as generate the funds for reconstruction.

Finally, the question of what to do with Uzumaki Naruto, the new jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, had to be settled. While his father Namikaze Minato wished for him to be recognized as the village's savior, Sarutobi knew it was too soon for the recovering village to see him as anything but the Kyūbi made human flesh. Thus, he had decreed Naruto's status as jinchūriki an S-ranked secret and forbid any of the survivors of the attack from disclosing the information. The people were understandably outraged and terrified of the attack that had come out of nowhere, the most powerful of the Nine cutting an indiscriminate swath of destruction in a time of peace. They were out for blood, looking for someone to blame, but Minato's sacrifice had denied them their revenge. Sarutobi's decree was a stopgap measure to be sure, but better that than potential rioting and calls for the child's execution.

He knew that the presence of a jinchūriki was one of a shinobi village's most powerful weapons and deterrents to war. Uzumaki Kushina, the boy's own mother, had been a powerful kunoichi in her own right, wielding the fuinjutsu and Kongō Fūsa (1) kekkei genkai of her clan with deadly grace and power. With her natural ability on top of the power of the Kyūbi sealed inside her, Kushina proudly used her Bingo Book status as an S-ranked kunoichi to defend the village and dissuade foreign attack.

Hiruzen knew that the influence and political might he wielded as one of the Three Pillars (2) could only last so long before the next generation of powerful shinobi came into their own. Until then, he had to lay the foundation for the next generation to thrive and develop. Naruto would have to be the lynch pin of his generation, Hiruzen owed it to his parents to make the most of their sacrifice. Although Kushina left specific instructions to bring the boy to the Uzumaki Temple on the outskirts of the village when he was old enough to join the shinobi forces, he would supplement the boy's training with his own. There would be no doubt Naruto would live up to his potential and surpass his parents, the village's future depended on it.

He would have to enlist the help of his old friend Shimura Danzō for his training. The two of them had a rocky relationship over the course of his term in office as Hokage over ideological differences. Hiruzen kept tabs on Danzō's activities, knowing full well about the development of the ROOT program and the various clandestine activities even the ANBU could not carry out. For all his faults, Danzō was a true patriot – a man that acted in the best interests of the village. He had a certain gift for training young prodigies and turning them into the excellent shinobi their potential indicated they would be, something that would be absolutely necessary if he wanted Naruto to grow strong enough to protect himself let alone the village. With the village in the most dire straits of his illustrious history, perhaps it was time to bury the hatchet.

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><p>"Hiruzen, my old friend. Despite recent events, it is good to catch up with you." Danzō said, sipping on his tea. The bandaged old man wore simple black and white robes that hid the various scars and war wounds he had collected over the course of his ninja career. The years had not been kind to him, but he too had been forged in the crucible of war. Danzō was not Hiruzen's biggest rival within the village for no reason, and his mind and skills remained ever sharp even in his old age.<p>

The two most powerful men in Konoha sat in the Hokage's office, ostensibly on a social call over tea. But they both knew how to play the game and knowing each other far better than arguably any other, expecting nothing less than a battle of wits to get what they wanted.

"I'm glad you found time in your busy schedule for a cup of tea with an old man like me, Danzō." Hiruzen chuckled, sipping on his own. He decided to throw the opening salvo. "Tell me, how is your garden doing lately? I hope the attack hasn't done anything to ruin your years of hard work."

Danzō's eyes narrowed imperceptibly at the thinly veiled allusion to his ROOT forces. Typical Hiruzen, going straight for the point. He had never been much for the subtleties of the game, preferring bolder but no less effective tactics even in his old age. "Fairly well. Though the attack did damage a fair portion of the garden, I find my plants doing better than ever. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that allowed me to clear it of the weeds inhibiting its growth."

"Good to hear, my friend." Hiruzen smirked into his cup.

"What of you, Hiruzen? How fares your... new pet?" An odd choice of words to be sure, but Danzō knew how greatly the Hokage valued his shinobi forces. Danzō thought him the weaker for it, indicative of his inability to make the tough decisions.

"I thought you'd never ask, Danzō. Actually, it's exactly why I've invited you here today."

Danzō raised an eyebrow and peered impassively at the old Sarutobi. "I see you've decided to cut straight to the point, as impatient as ever."

"You and I both know all too well that I was never one for mincing words." Hiruzen chuckled. "Especially in these dire times. The village has been greatly weakened, and I don't think I need to remind you of the enemies that lurk on our doorstep as we speak."

"Indeed. The blow to not only the ninja forces and infrastructure but also the death of our Kage and jinchūriki in the same night would cripple any lesser village. I won't let that happen to us."

"Indeed, and neither will I. I know you're aware of the boy's heritage, of the dormant potential sleeping within him."

Danzō scoffed. "Son of one of the finest ninja our village has produced in generations and an Uzumaki jinchūriki, exposed to the Kyūbi chakra from conception, and the Kyūbi itself sealed into him. Only a fool would be blind to not see the power waiting to be tapped there, Hiruzen."

"I would have him be a worthy successor to the Will of Fire, Danzō. The boy is destined for greatness, I can feel it deep in these old bones of mine. To that end, I need your help, old friend."

Even Danzō could not rein in the surprise he felt, legendary calm all but thrown out of the window in shock. "Oh?"

Hiruzen smiled ruefully. "I know the two of us have rarely seen eye to eye over the years, but the one thing the both of us can agree on is the safety and prosperity of Konoha. I want you to work with me to train the boy. Together, we will forge him into the blade Konoha needs."

"I thought you detested my methods? Yet you would willingly give him into my hands to turn into a human weapon?"

"Naruto needs to be more than a weapon, my friend. We will groom him to be the next Hokage, and for that, he needs his humanity and his empathy just as much as he needs his jutsu."

"You seem to have a great deal of faith in a baby not even a month old, Hiruzen."

"You said it yourself, Danzō. With the sheer amount of potential at his fingertips, the boy can be no less. He will usher in a new age of greatness for Konoha, we will make him into the strongest."

Danzō narrowed his eyes at the Hokage, not quite believing in his grandiose vision just yet. "If, and that is a very large if, I were to agree to this plan of yours, how do you propose we go about that?"

Hiruzen's smile grew slightly larger and he grinned internally. He had Danzō's full attention now, and he knew the grizzled old war hawk was on the verge of agreement. "We will train the boy in everything we know. The ROOT program will give him the skills he needs to fight, and I will groom him in the art of statecraft. He will walk in the light even as his hands are steeped in the darkness of our profession, he will be our greatest legacy."

"I still think you're getting on in your old age, Hiruzen." Danzō stood, walking over to the window overlooking the village. "But if this plan of yours works... Then his will be a legacy that will lead us into the greatness Konoha deserves."

The old war hawk turned to look his friend in the eye with a smirk. "I can't exactly let you do it on your own, you're sure to muck it up somehow and get the boy killed before his time."

Joining Danzō by the window with a smirk of his own, the Sarutobi elder pulled out his pipe and lit it with a burst of chakra manipulation. As much as Danzō liked to deny it, the Will of Fire burned just as strongly in him as it ever did in his youth. Tobirama-sensei would have been proud.

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><p>When Naruto turned 7, Hiruzen and Danzō took him to the Uzumaki Clan Temple on the outskirts of the village on Kushina's strict orders. Before she died, she had left detailed instructions to preserve her Uzumaki heritage for Naruto to someday rebuild the clan. Chief among these were to bring her son to the temple in order to receive the legacy of her people.<p>

"Ne, Danzō-ji-sama, why are we going so far from the village so early today? The sun's barely out!" Naruto practically vibrated with the youthful enthusiasm all young children seemed to possess, smiling brightly at the old war hawk as the trio leapt through the forest canopy surrounding Konoha. Clad in a simple white shirt with a red spiral on the right breast and navy blue shorts rather than his usual shinobi gear, Naruto was excited to be outside of the ANBU compound for the first time in a long while.

"Are we going to do more ninjutsu training or something?"

Danzō resisted the urge to palm his face with exasperation, shooting a glance at Hiruzen with a silent plea to do something. As much as he had grown to love the young boy and all his flaws, Naruto remained stubbornly energetic and exuberant despite his best efforts to teach him the stoic reserve he thought a true shinobi should have instead. Instead, Naruto seemed to take great pleasure at flaunting propriety, preferring to referring to the two of them with casual fondness instead of the formalities their stations deserved.

Hiruzen chuckled, taking pity on his friend. "Naruto-kun, we're going to a temple on the outskirts of the village. It belonged to your people, the Uzumaki clan."

Naruto landed on a tree branch and froze, eyes widening in shock as the two old men stopped beside him. "No way... I thought you said the Uzumaki all perished in the Second Shinobi War and that my mother was the last of her people! How could we have a whole temple outside Konoha?"

"Before the destruction of Uzushiogakure, the Uzumaki clan were close allies of Konoha. They built this temple here as a sign of friendship."

"That's incredible! And we're going to explore it? This is the best day ever!" Naruto threw himself at Hiruzen and Danzō, sweeping them up into his tiny embrace.

The old Hokage ruffled his hair with a smile with Danzō throwing in an awkward pat on the boy's back. "Let's get going, Naruto-kun. Today is a big day after all, and I need to get back to the village before long."

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><p>Making quick time, they reached the temple grounds as the sun fully rose into the morning sky. The structure had been left untended after the Fall of Uzu and had since fallen into disrepair. Despite that, it still retained a quiet splendor of its own even as the great spiral of the Uzumaki clan stood in front of the entrance. Like a silent colossus, it stood in the clearing resisting the passage of time, a forgotten testament to the splendor of the Uzumaki. Naruto was struck with awe, gazing with a rare somber sadness awe at his clansmen's ruined temple.<p>

Hiruzen led the way inside, heading to the center of the temple where a huge wall stood behind an elaborate raised dais. Hanging beneath three connected Uzumaki clan spirals were several masks, under all of which were ornate black flames. Each mask bore the likeness of a snarling oni except two that hung above the rest. On the right hung the black mask of the dread Shinigami, the God of Death and the Underworld. On the left hung a red tengu mask inlaid with black, white, and gold trim.

Naruto took a hesitant step forward, curiosity overtaking his momentary shock at the awe-inspiring sight. "Hokage-ji-sama, Danzō-ji-sama, what are those masks?"

"Those masks are a part of the legacy of your people, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said. "Mito-sama, an Uzumaki and Hashirama-sama's wife, told me once that the masks were the symbols of the protectors of the clan, used in ceremonies to give thanks to the spirits who first gave chakra to the human race."

"Wow..." Naruto could only whisper with reverence at finally being able to take in a piece of his clan history. The Hokage had done his best to give him a normal childhood, but the combination of his ninja training with the lingering hatred of the villagers toward the container of the Kyūbi had all but taken it from him. He didn't resent the two men for it, but some nights he laid awake at night wondering about how his parents and clansmen were in life.

"Your mother left me very specific instructions to bring you here, Naruto-kun. She wanted you to see this, and to put on the Shinigami mask as all main branch Uzumaki were when they were ready enough to join the ranks of their shinobi forces."

Naruto snapped his head around so fast, Danzō swore he got whiplash and a crick in his own neck just from watching. "W-wait, y-you really think I'm ready to join the shinobi forces?"

"We've taught you all you know, and we've seen your struggles and triumphs ever since you were old enough to grip your own kunai. You've grown into a powerful young ninja powerful enough to give even a chūnin pause. I would say you're more than ready." Danzō said, impassively on the outside but filled with a rare pride he hadn't felt in a long time.

"However, that doesn't mean your training ends here. I want you to experience a normal childhood, and you won't get that in the field." Hiruzen chimed in. "You're old enough now to join the Academy, where you'll be able to grow up around your peers and officially join the shinobi forces upon graduation."

Naruto's face glowed with a happiness and excitement that nearly brought tears to the old Hokage's eyes. "You mean I'll finally be able to make friends my own age? Don't get me wrong - Kakashi-nii, Itachi-nii, Yūgao-nee, and the other ANBU are really cool but... I'll really have friends who're just as old as I am?"

Danzō nodded with a slight frown. "I don't exactly agree with Hiruzen on this, but he thinks it'll be good for you to be around your peers for a change."

The Sarutobi chuckled to himself as he playfully ruffled his surrogate grandson's blond spiky hair. "At any rate, you'll be able to meet new people and experience new things." He took a look into Naruto's eyes, and seeing the unspoken fear there, continued on. "And don't worry about what they'll think. They'll form their own opinions or they'll change their minds about you."

"No apprentice of mine is going to be bothered by a bunch of wet behind the ears brats, either." Danzō chimed in gruffly.

Naruto swallowed the tears that threatened to well up behind his eyes with a wide grin. "Thanks, Danzō-ji-sama, Hokage-ji-sama." he said simply.

Danzō coughed into his fist, clearly uncomfortable with the display of emotions. "Hiruzen, we should hurry up here. We've both got other things to do today."

"Ah yes," the wizened Hokage said, smiling at Danzō's uncharacteristically unsubtle prodding. "Naruto-kun, your mother also asked that I give you a chance to put on the Shinigami mask as well. I'm told it's a part of the rite of passage for main branch Uzumaki shinobi."

At his urging, Naruto approached the dais. Frowning at how high the mask was for his short body, Naruto brought his hands together in a cross shaped hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried.

A solid clone of himself softly appeared next to him in a small poof of smoke, the tightly controlled execution a testament to his hard-earned chakra control and mastery of the jutsu. The clone crouched down and the original Naruto climbed onto its shoulders. When the clone straightened up, Naruto found himself just high enough to grab the mask. As he grasped it to pull it off the peg, the mask was surrounded by a ring of intricate seals that glowed into existence. He marveled at the complexity of the array, not quite fluent enough to fully analyze it but knowing enough to identify the security and blood-recognition core seals. Naruto tried to tug the mask off, but it remained fixed to the wall.

The seals flashed once and faded, causing Naruto and his clone to stumble back as the resistance holding the mask in place disappeared. He hopped off the clone's shoulder, dispelling it as he looked at the Shinigami's eerie snarl immortalized in the mask. A slight chill ran down his spine at the sight of it up close. Hands trembling slightly with excitement, he shook his head to get rid of the nerves and quietly placed the mask over his face.

When nothing seemed to be happening, he turned around to face his two mentors with a slightly puzzled shrug. "Is something supposed to happen now or did I mess up the rit—" The mask flashed with an ominous light, eye and mouth holes glowing like a beacon as Naruto was interrupted mid-sentence. He clutched at his face with a sudden yell of terror and pain. His body rose up, floating into the air.

"Hiruzen, what's happening?" Danzō yelled. He surged forward to help Naruto, only to stopped with an arm across his chest.

"No, don't touch him! It's too dangerous!" Hiruzen shouted back. The two could only watch helplessly as Naruto grasped at the mask. With one last anguished scream, Naruto threw his head back and the mask filled the room with a blinding light. They instinctively covered their eyes, and as the light faded, Naruto collapsed to the ground in a boneless heap like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto!"

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><p>AUTHOR'S NOTES:<p>

(1) Kongō Fūsa – lit. Adamantine Sealing Chains, the name of the chakra chains Kushina could manifest. In this story, I have made this an official kekkei genkai of the Uzumaki for obvious reasons.

(2) The Three Pillars of the Shinobi World – the informal name of the three shinobi bogeymen that lived far beyond the average life expectancy of their profession by the mix of experience, frightening power, and cunning needed to survive that long. Consisting of Hiruzen the Professor (also known as the God of Shinobi), Ōnoki of Both Scales, and Hanzō the Salamander, these three are acknowledged by most as the three most powerful in the Elemental Nations.

And that's chapter 1, folks! I did my best to avoid info dumping, nobody likes a story full of lengthy descriptions of unimportant stuff. If you couldn't tell by the lack of sentence variety, this is my first real attempt at a fanfic, so any feedback regarding style and content would be greatly appreciated.

Some notes about the universe of this story I should get out of the way:

I've skipped over Naruto's training period (from "very young" to about 7 years old at the start of the story) under Hiruzen and Danzō in order to speed along the story. We all get tired of lengthy descriptions of how Naruto learned x jutsu or y fighting style, so I didn't bother. We'll touch on important parts of it throughout the story as showing is more interesting than just telling, but I will say that he isn't blatantly OP because of it... Yet. (heh)

Some more acute readers will notice parallels with this chapter's ending with a certain science-fiction game's central plot device. Do leave a comment if you get it, but if you didn't... Trust that I will elaborate further.

I realize that Danzō might seem out of character, but I believe that's due to the fanon conception of him as a ruthless, scheming bastard. While he does admittedly do some despicable things throughout the course of canon, I've always interpreted him as a pragmatic patriot at heart. Everything he does is for the good of Konoha, and his various power plays are motivated not by a selfish desire to rule, but because he genuinely believes he would be the best leader for Konoha. With this in mind, I believe Hiruzen's renewed friendship and cooperation with him would make Danzō a more agreeable person with the worst of his excesses tempered by Hiruzen's ideals. Not to mention how the working together like a married old couple to raise Naruto (you are now shipping HiruZō OTP) would change him. I think Naruto would naturally use his Talk no Jutsu personality-changing abilities to make him a better guy. At any rate, Hiruzen and Danzō are character foils to each other, and I'll do my best to explore this a little more than the average fanfic. Feel free to disagree in a review or something, but that's what I'm rolling with in this story.

Apologies for the lengthy author's note! Read and Review please, lemme know your thoughts!


	2. Chapter 2 - Revelations

CHAPTER 2 – Revelations

**UPDATE (1/1/2015): Cleaned up some shaky parts I wasn't too happy with, changed everything to third person after great deliberation with myself. As much as I want to do first person, third person gives me more flexibility in terms of storytelling and characterization for other people than Naruto.**

**Hope you enjoy the changes!**

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><p>The first thing Naruto's mind registered upon returning to consciousness was an faint but incessant dripping that seemed to burrow into his brain like a worm. The second was a pounding migraine that left his head throbbing in time with that awful dripping. As much as he wanted to just lay there and block out the world, his training kicked in as Danzō's teachings sounded in the back of his mind. <em>Constant vigilance!<em>**(1)**

The first thing he was trained to do when waking up in an unknown, potentially dangerous scenario was to take stock of the situation. Naruto wiggled his fingers and toes and flexed all of his muscles, heaving a quiet sigh of relief that finding everything in one piece at least. He sat up with a low groan and looked around.

He found himself in some kind of dank sewer, surrounded on all sides by pipes that glowed faintly and illuminated the tunnel around him. There was no smell, and the murky water that went up to his hips from his seated position had no temperature or tactile feeling to it. His clothes didn't feel wet at all, something that confused him greatly. Naruto reached down to touch it, expecting wetness, but to his surprise he reached straight through to the floor.

_"Great,"_ he thought. _"I'm probably locked in some kind of genjutsu, and an impressively strong one at that to have overwhelmed all of my senses at once..."_

The blonde boy attempted to gather chakra for a pulse that would disrupt the foreign chakra running through him and dispel the genjutsu, but the familiar rush of energy that would have normally pooled in his navel was nowhere to be found.

_"No chakra. Either a suppressing seal or some kind of drug slipped to me while I was unconscious. Things just keep getting better and better."_

Getting up off the ground, he checked himself for the equipment he had packed this morning to go on the little field trip to the temple but found nothing. That wasn't a good sign. The day was _supposed_ to be a day off for him, so he had only strapped his usual kunai holster to his leg and belted his weapons pouch to his waist. But of course he would wake up in an unknown location with none of it on him anyway.

Naruto palmed his face with another quiet sigh and prayed his captors hadn't noticed the small seals on his extremities. After the first dozen times Danzō woke him up on alleged "vacation days" with explosive notes under his bed for surprise combat readiness assessments, he took to carrying at least a concealed kunai sealed on his limbs just in case. He quickly checked his fingertips, wrists, and ankles for the kunai he had sealed there with no luck either. The boy couldn't even feel the tell-tale signs of the seals having ever even been there in the first place.

_"Damn,"_ he mentally groaned._ "Whoever got me had gotten me very thoroughly. If I was snatched from right under the noses of two of the most powerful men in the Elemental Nations..."_

Whoever was good or strong enough to pull that off practically had his life in the palm of their hand.

"Danzō-ji-sama? Hokage-ji-sama?" Naruto called out after a moment's deliberation. It didn't seem like his captors wanted him dead just yet, seeing as how he would have never even woken up in the first place if they had. Perhaps they had grabbed the two old men as well.

His voice echoed around him, the only reply he got besides that incessant thrice-dammed dripping.

_"Where the hell was I even?" _he wondered. _"The last thing I remember was... putting on that Shinigami mask in the Uzumaki temple." _

The more he tried to recall what happened after, the more his brain throbbed in protest. Whoever did this must have been waiting for that exact moment to make their move. Reaching up to massage his temples, he surveyed his surroundings again.

There was only two ways to proceed, forward and backwards. Without any else to go on, Naruto figured he may as well go forward. If there was anything he had learned from the horror stories his Yūgao-nee loved to tell so much, it was that nothing good ever happened by heading back somewhere on one's own. Of course, just as many bad things happened to the poor protagonists that walked blindly forward into unknown dark sewer tunnels, but he filed that particular train of thought away. There was no point in worrying about what ifs or he'd be paralyzed with indecision. Better to face things head on at his own pace, he figured.

As the tired blonde trudged down the tunnel, he sighed to himself while taking stock of the situation at hand. Thrown into an unknown location, unarmed, with no chakra to boot. "Some rest day this turned out to be," he grumbled under his breath. "If this is another one of Danzō-ji-sama's ideas of a joke, it certainly isn't any funnier than the rest." The old man had a terrible sense of humor at the best of times, and this was possibly shaping up to be one of his worst ones yet. Naruto couldn't help sighing again.

His thoughts drifted to the events leading up to his unconsciousness in another attempt to figure out what the hell happened to him. At least he had learned more about his clan before things went to hell. As much as he loved his two surrogate grandfathers and all the ANBU who went out of their way to train him, he was still an orphan at the end of the day with nothing of his parents to go on but stories of their near-legendary exploits. Make no mistake, he loved hearing tales of his mother's skill with a blade or of the things his father was able to do with his infamous Hiraishin no Jutsu. But simple stories of his parents were a poor substitute for the real thing.

Lost in his thoughts, he walked for what seemed like hours with no change in his surroundings at all. Eventually, he noticed a faint light at the end of the tunnel he was in. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he mentally readied himself for any potential threat. Unarmed and bereft of chakra as he was, he was determined not to go gentle into that good night.

The tunnel itself opened into a huge expanse without walls or an end in sight. Naruto wasn't agoraphobic by any means, but the endlessly wide open zone filled him with a dread that bore down on all sides. He felt as insignificant as a rat in the middle of it all, and wanted nothing more than to just crawl into a corner somewhere and hide. That certainly wasn't a viable option to him, so he steeled myself and continued walking in hopes of finding some kind of landmark to orient himself around.

"Hello?" he called out. Nothing but echoes answered back gain. "Anyone there?"

**"Naruto."** A distinctly feminine voice answered him and he whirled around, startled.

**"Naruto."**

He threw his gaze about the room, head practically on a swivel as he desperately tried to figure out where the voice was coming from. As he whipped his head around, uncharacteristically tripping over his own feet in a near panic, he backed straight into a solid mass behind him.

The young boy turned and leapt back rapidly, facing a woman clad in a stunning black kimono with red and white flowers blooming around the bottom hem and sleeves. A white obi with a golden knot was fastened around her waist. Her long, straight red hair cascaded down to the small of her back and her violet eyes shone with a calculated sharpness that belied her obviously noble upbringing. She was beautiful, the very sight of her took his breath away, but she seemed somehow familiar to him like a fleeting memory at the back of his mind.

**"Naruto. My son, you've come at last." **She smiled sadly at him as he felt his world come crashing around his head, finally recognizing the woman standing before him.

The Sandaime had given him a single picture of his parents for his 5th birthday, wanting him to at least know of his heritage but telling him it was too dangerous to give him anything more. His parents had accumulated hundreds of enemies in their shinobi careers, any number of whom would love to take revenge on their helpless son before he was ever ready to defend himself. Even though he had never had any trouble with memory recall, that night Naruto had made sure to carefully study every detail of that picture, committing the snapshot of their candid embrace to memory as if his life depended on it.

Uzumaki Kushina looked exactly as she was photographed all those years ago.

"W-what? N-no, it can't be... M-mother...?" he stuttered out, shaking his head in disbelief. He dared not believe the words he swore he must have hallucinated. There was no way the lady before him was his mother. "My parents had passed away when I was born, they sacrificed their lives to seal the Kyuubi in me!"

**"Now, now... Is that any way to greet your own mother?" **

"I... I..." Choking back the sob that threatened to burst out of his throat, he took a hesitant step forward. One foot after another, faster and faster until he closed the gap with a leap, throwing his arms around her waist. I buried his face into her stomach, too afraid to meet her violet eyes with his own. "Is this a genjutsu?" He feared this was yet another cruel test or prank sprung on him, not daring to even consider it was real.

He felt her warm hands wrap around him as she knelt down to meet him at his eye level, drawing him fully into her embrace. **"You've grown since last time I held you in my arms that fateful night."**

With those words and the implications they held, he couldn't hold his tears back any longer. He wept openly into the crook of his mother's neck. If this really was a genjutsu or some devious trap, he cared no longer.

"I wanted to meet you so much," he sobbed.

She stroked the back of his head, clutching him ever tighter. **"I know, Naruto. I know."** Wet drops fell onto the top of his head.** "Your father and I had no choice that night, we never wanted things to turn out this way."**

Seven years of the loneliness and bitter sadness he kept bottled in his heart poured out of Naruto as he finally let myself cry for the first time since his training began with Hiruzen and Danzō. In order to be the strong ninja they wanted, no, expected him to be, he had suppressed those feelings and buried them deep inside. He had no time to waste feeling pity or sorry for myself as an orphan if he wanted to win the pride, approval, and acknowledgment he so desperately craved. But on certain nights, he couldn't help but lie awake in bed, wondering what life would have been like had his parents yet lived. Would they have looked at him with the same love in their eyes as they had for each other in their photo?

Now, he felt like he finally had an answer to that.

* * *

><p>The two Uzumaki didn't know how long they stood there, son wrapped tight in his mother's embrace, not wanting the moment to end. Eventually with a sorrowful sigh, Naruto pulled himself together and separated from her arms.<p>

"Thank you, Mother." he said gratefully and bowed deeply at the waist. Naruto felt like he had to thank her for putting up with his childish outburst. If Danzō were here to see what the old war hawk undoubtedly would have considered a shameful lapse in control over the boy's emotions, he'd have been disowned on the spot. The blond Uzumaki straightened and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, highly embarrassed.

Kushina stifled a giggle behind her hand, a smile creeping all the way to up to her twinkling eyes. **"Oh, Naruto, you silly boy. There's no need to thank your mom for doing what moms do best."**

"I um, well..." he blushed at that. Today was shaping up to be quite the wild rollercoaster of highs and lows for him. "So how is this all possible anyway, Mother? Where are we? Hokage-ji-sama told me that you and Father passed away on the night of the sealing of the Fox."

**"By Hokage-ji-sama, I assume you mean Sarutobi's been reinstated as Hokage then?"** Kushina asked curiously.

"Yes, Mother. Father had not named any successor before his untimely death, so the Shinobi Council unanimously voted to reinstate the Sandaime." Naruto grinned, remembering the other side of that particular history lesson. "Well, almost unanimously, Danzō-ji-sama still grumbles about that every now and then. I think he's just jealous he was passed over again for the Hokage position, but don't tell him I said that..."

This time, his mother laughed uproariously, unable to contain her mirth any longer**. "Wahahahaha, you mean that old coot is still as salty as ever? Oh boy, Minato-kun would have loved to hear that! Your dear old dad never really saw eye to eye with the bandaged geezer, he always thought that guy was was a hardass too overbearing with his patriotism, ya know!"**

Naruto froze his face in a look of mock horror, jokingly looking over his shoulders with a look of mock anxiety and fear in every direction for any sign of the old man in question. "Shh, not so loud Mother! Danzō-ji-sama is going to put me through the wringer if he finds out we've been talking about him behind his back!"

Kushina drew him in for another bone-crushing hug with a peal of laughter, picking him up and spinning him around in the air. He smiled into her bosom and hugged her back as tightly as his smaller arms could handle. Never in his wildest dreams did he think could have ever met his mother like this, and yet here he was - hugging her and sharing in her laughter like she had never been ripped from his life right as it barely began.

As if she was thinking along the same line of thought as him, his mother slowed to a stop and gently set him down in her lap with a melancholy sigh that mirrored his own mood.

**"I had dreamed of this moment when I could hold you in my arms like this ever since I found out you were on your way into my life, but I never imagined it would be quite like this."**

Naruto turned and hugged his mother tightly. "I know, Mother."

A playful gleam re-entered the corner of her eye. **"For one thing, I never expected you to be quite so... formal with him."** She teasingly squeezed his cheek with a gentle hand as he leaned into her touch.

"Why, whatever do you mean by that, Mother?" Naruto asked cheekily, giving her his patented wide-eyed innocent stare. "Isn't it part of a son's duty to pay the proper filial respect to his parents?"

She furrowed her eyebrows at that, an attempted rebuttal dying in her throat as she processed his watertight logic. **"That... well. Um..."** Kushina pinched his cheek again. **"Good point."**

"Thank you, Mother."

**"You could stop calling me that though, all of this formality is making me itch..."**

"You want me to stop calling you 'Mother,' Mother?"

**"Grr..."**

"I can't understand you when you don't use people language, Mother."

**"... You cheeky little brat."** She lightly pinched his other cheek with a grimace.

"Sorry, Mother **(2)**."

The two Uzumaki shared another laugh at that.

After wiping an imaginary tear of mirth from her eye, she leveled a serious gaze at him. **"As much as I'd love to stay here and catch up with my son, it's high time I told you why you're here."**

Naruto got up off her lap and sat on the ground before her in seiza position. She quirked an eyebrow at him but continued anyway.

**"Going back to your original questions, we are currently in your mindscape or in other words, the manifestation of your subconscious. It does concern me that we seem to be in what looks to be a sewer, ya know."** The two of them looked around with a shared frown. **"But that is a matter you can always fix later.**

**"What brought you here was the Shinigami Mask of the Uzumaki Clan. You see, Naruto, the Uzumaki Clan in the pinnacle of its power was famed throughout the Elemental Nations for three things: the incredibly vitality that gave us our extraordinary life spans and large chakra reserves, our prowess in fūinjutsu, and our Kongō Fūsa kekkei genkai."**

Naruto's eyes widened at that. He had a kekkei genkai? Ever since he could remember, tales of legendary shinobi and their exploits filled his bedtime stories. Like any young ninja, he had always indulged in the occasional daydream of having a kekkei genkai of his own as strong as the Mokuton of the Senju or the Sharingan of the Uchiha, but it was another one of those things he never thought he could have for real! Visibly reigning in his excitement, he calmed down to keep listening attentively. It wouldn't do to have his mind wandering in front of his own mother.

**"While any of these things on their own were indeed formidable, the true reason for our strength comes from the covenant our ancestors made with the Shinigami. In order to preserve the clan secrets and traditions in the turbulent times of the Warring Clans Era, the first Uzumaki called upon the Shinigami for aid. In exchange for their service to him in the afterlife, the powerful chosen of the clan reside in each generation of Uzumaki leaders where they can watch over and guide the Clan as they are needed." **

If the blond had thought the revelation of having a kekkei genkai was amazing, it was certainly nothing compared to this latest piece of his clan legacy. Normally he hated and wanted nothing to do with anything dealing with the occult and ghosts, but he didn't even bat an eye at that particular aspect of it. Maybe it was comfort in the knowledge that those spirits were the family he always wanted to have. At any rate, it explained how his mother was able to stand before him now despite her untimely death.

"So how are the spirits of the past Uzumaki able to do that, Mother? Are only main family Uzumaki initiated this way?" Naruto asked curiously.

**"Any shinobi recognized by the clan for their power, wisdom, or mastery worthy of being inducted into the fold for all time are allowed to bear the Seal of the Uzumaki, a powerful fūinjutsu given to us by the Shinigami. Upon their death, their spirit rests in the Shinigami mask where it is preserved in its prime with the other spirits of the clan. When the next generation Uzumaki clan leader comes of age, they put on the mask and bear the Seal as part of their rite of passage. The spirits imprint the collective knowledge of all the clan into the mind of the initiate. That is the secret of the Uzumaki Clan's power – the leader of the clan becomes the avatar of the collective spirits of those powerful clansmen who came before and their skills and wisdom are never truly lost."**

"If you're standing before me now, does that mean I'm next in line for this?"

**"Yes, my darling son."** His mother drew him into her embrace and gently kissed the top of his head, filling him with a warmth and security he thought he would never be able to feel. **"Like me and my mother before you, you too are descended from the main family of the Uzumaki Clan. The responsibility of Clan Leader falls to you next.**

**"Now you know why the Uzumaki were truly feared. With the knowledge of the accumulated years of experience of every powerful shinobi worthy of being inducted into the fold, our clan's power never diminished with time. Instead it flourished, our influence and prestige spreading far and wide where other clans ebbed and flowed. When the secret of our clan was eventually brought to light, our enemies united to destroy us."**

"Is that why I'm the last of the Uzumaki?" Naruto frowned sadly.

**"Yes, Naruto. The other villages feared the power our clan would wield if left unchecked, so they invaded Uzu no Kuni (3) to end us before we grew too strong. Though our clan fought bravely and valiantly to the last man, woman, and child, the combined might of Kumo and Kiri overwhelmed our defenses and razed Uzushiogakure to the ground." **

"Where was Konoha? Weren't we allies at that point?"

**"Only a small group of survivors were evacuated before the Fall, scattering far and wide." **Kushina sighed bitterly. **"From what I've learned from the elder spirits who lived at the time, we made them pay dearly for that. Especially Kiri. The losses they suffered that battle wiped out nearly an entire generation of Kiri-nin, sowing the seeds for the dissent that has only grown deeper since then. I imagine it still rumbles beneath the surface today."**

The newly realized Uzumaki heir nodded solemnly, filing that bit of information in the back of his head for later. _"Hokage-ji-sama would likely have the most up-to-date intel on the Kiri front."_ he thought to himself.

"Now that I've put on the mask and finally met you, what comes next, Mother?"

**"It's a different process for everyone. in your case, since you didn't have the benefit of anyone to train you in our ways or properly conduct the ceremony, I went ahead and began the imprinting process ever since you first woke up in your mindscape. It was simple enough to do with the help of the other Uzumaki, ya know."**

He was stunned by that almost offhand comment. "You can do that?"

Kushina smiled a smile that didn't quite reach the violet eyes now gleaming with an emotion Naruto could not identify. **"The imprinting will seal most of the clan experiences, skills, and memories into you in the form of an archive in your deep subconscious. Some of it may seep through the locks and you might find yourself unconsciously incorporating what you've learned. The more you meditate to sift through and actively process the clan archive, the more control you'll gain and the more synchronization you'll achieve as you'll be able to call upon more of the Clan. **

**"I expect great things from you, my precious son."**

The mindscape slowly began a rumbling that sent a slight ripple of panic down his spine. The omnipresent darkness surrounding mother and son grew thicker, closing in all around. Naruto felt his mother draw him into one last embrace. The last thing he could feel as everything faded to black was her lips brushing his forehead, her words swirling all around him like a gentle breeze.

**"No matter what happens, be strong. Know that I love you, Naruto, and I always will..."**

* * *

><p>A searing migraine suddenly lanced through his brain as all of his senses were overwhelmed by what felt like a thousand different inputs at once.<p>

_a sky __fill__**ed with black**__ flame_

It wasn't a single line of thought, sound, or image but simply memory that wormed its way into his brain like it had always been there.

_smell of bloo__d, h__u__**man filth**_

_a great__ whirlpool of boiling__ seas_

Rapid flashes of - places he had never seen, people he had never met - ripped through his eyes. His hands clenched hard as Naruto curled into a tight ball to block out as much it as he could, drawing blood from where his fingernails dug into the flesh.

_how__**ls of agony**__, cries for water_

_ruined buildings__ corpses__ laying in the streets_

A scream pulsed through his ears, his ruined throat telling him it was his own. Pain and a deep instinctive fear overwhelmed him and filled his consciousness.

_one __**man standing**__ against the __dark__ness_

There was an inhuman roar that sounded like no terrestrial beast sounding like an avalanche in his ears. Bile rose in his throat, mixing with the coppery tang of blood in his mouth.

_single red, ringed __**eye**__ with __9 burning tomoe_

Then, nothing.

* * *

><p>AUTHOR'S NOTES:<p>

**(1)** Lifted directly from a certain other franchise's grizzled old man's favorite catchphrase.

**(2)** You'll notice that Naruto really enjoys giving the people he likes formal-sounding nicknames. It's a quirk of his I transferred from his canon counterpart with my own spin on it.

**(3**_**)**__ Uzu no Kuni_ – Land of Whirlpools

**And so we come to the end of chapter two. I would have gotten this out a little sooner, but the winter holidays are crazy as I'm sure you know yourself. I'm still laying the world-building foundation of this little AU down, so a large portion of this chapter is a bit of an info-dump. Please bear with it for now!**

**Lemme know what you think of my version of Naruto in a review!**

**Have a happy Winter Holiday Season.**


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